Saturday, August 21, 2010

Happy dolls

We were just sitting down as a family to try out the new Toy Story game on our PS3. It's very good by the way. If you think we should encourage game companies to make children's games that are actually good, buy this. Anyway, we were sitting down when there was a knock at the door. It was my neighbor with a giant sack of flannel. She claimed they were scraps. I shoved it in the sewing room and went back to join the fun.
When I took a look later, I discovered that none of the pieces are smaller then 1/2 a yard. More then enough for jammies and bathrobes. And!
Sheets for Moira's new (old) doll bed. The doll bed and a matching high chair were handed down to my sister and I by my father's sisters, and shockingly, I managed not to destroy them as I did so many other things. The paint did get really banged up and the decals were all scratched off, so when my youngest cousins were old enough, I repainted it and gave it to them. Carol recently offered it back for Moira, but I was worried that the bottom layer might be lead based. And I knew the top layer (mine!) was poorly done. Fortunately, my aunt Bobbe was willing to tackle the project and she sanding all the old paint off for us and re painted it.
I had a mini quilt that someone made me in a swap and Moira immediately claimed as her own, but the mattress was bare and they dolls had no pillow.
Moira was literally stunned for a few minutes when she and Walker got home from errands and I showed her Mimi sleeping in the bed. Then she was super excited. She even insisted that Mimi stay in there when she went to bed tonight.
I got tired of the dolls being naked all the time, because they are just so dirty. Moira found this chicken fabric in a pile on my sewing room floor and remembered that I had made something for her out of it. I asked if Mimi and Shannie would like to have dresses out of it too, and she said yes. She picked the purple dot for the straps too. I was digging through my scrap bin for something yellow or red but when she saw this fabric, she insisted.
This is Shannie's new dress. Also, the outfit on Moira is something that has been half finished for at least 2 months now. I figured I should get it done before the warm weather went away completely. There was a tiny hole in the back of the purple shirt, so I wanted to do some fusible applique. I asked Moira if she wanted flowers, but she said "No, bubbles," so that's what I did.
For the most part, I've been keeping her out of my sewing room whenever I'm in there. She used to just run from sharp thing to sharp thing to drawer full of thread. When I made the Olivia outfit last month, I tried to let her help me but I got frustrated really quickly. Today, crafting with her was really lovely. I'm sure it helped that Walker was home and she could run off and talk to him and I didn't have to stop every five minutes to get her a snack or whatever. I should make another stab at clearing up the room and maybe she and I can do more crafting in there during the day. With the door open, as much as she likes to close it. Two people in that little room with the door closed feels too claustrophobic to me.